


Take This Sinking Boat

by monimala



Category: Good Trouble (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, POV Male Character, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29646171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monimala/pseuds/monimala
Summary: Set throughout the second season and into episode 3.1. Dennis reflects on his evolving relationship with Davia.Dennis knows, he *knows*, it’s a bad idea to keep falling for his best friend.
Relationships: Dennis Cooper/Davia Moss
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Take This Sinking Boat

Davia is the first woman he’s slept with, actually slept with, since Jennifer. The others in between didn’t count. Not that he could count them all. There aren’t enough fingers and toes for that. Somebody always left, him or them, after the sex. Or he passed out in bed, come drying on his skin and booze drying out his tongue. He doesn’t remember most of their names. All in service of forgetting his own.

With her, though, it’s different. Quiet. Sober. Real rest in sheets that smell like her shampoo and her sunscreen. Sometimes she curls up against his back, like she’s watching it. Watching over him. His fierce 5-foot-3 guardian angel.

“Can I stay here tonight?” he asks, and she never says no. She should say no. Because she wants things from him that he can’t give her. Because he wants things from her that he shouldn’t.

So he says it for her. With song lyrics from Malika’s birthday still clogging his throat. He tells her that he and Jennifer are going to try and work things out. It’s a lie that’s easy to tell. Easier than breaking her heart in the future. Which he will absolutely do. And then he shuts his door and finishes his wall and stares at Jacob’s sweet face until he doesn’t see Davia’s anymore.

But he doesn’t sleep. Not for days after. And drinking with Malika until he hits oblivion is mostly accidental. Dennis knows, he _knows_ , it’s a bad idea to keep falling for his best friend. He’s talked it to death in group. And the last thing he wants is to hurt Davia like Jeff did. Jerking her around. Making her his back-up plan, forcing her to wait by the phone. Making her feel unworthy of love when it’s _him_ who doesn’t deserve it. 

He still practices “I love you” in the mirror on Valentine’s Day. And he memorizes how the curve of Davia’s cheek feels under his palm. How it feels to hold her when she’s shaking, flying too high from the ‘shrooms. He doesn’t sleep then either. Because he’s too busy watching her come down. Keeping her grounded. Making sure she’s breathing. And if she sobs “I want you so much, Dennis” somewhere in the middle of all of that, he memorizes that, too. Because he might not be lucky enough to ever hear it again. 

But he does. He _is_ that lucky. A little wine-drunk but fully cognizant, she whispers “I love you, too” into his mouth. He gets to learn how she tastes. He gets to make love to her—another thing he hasn’t done since his wife. Since long before they separated. And it’s different with Davia. It’s everything with Davia. Soft and sexy and soul-baring. He’s never been more stripped than he is with her. There’s laughter. Mostly hers. When he kisses his way between her thighs and finds out she’s ticklish. There’s some tears. Mostly his. When she combs her fingers through his hair, cups the back of his head and tells him he’s safe with her. “Just like I’ve always been safe with you.” 

“Can I stay here tonight?” he asks.

“You can stay here forever,” she says. 

Maybe that’s why he leaves in the morning and doesn’t come back. Because it’s a promise too big and too dangerous to keep. Maybe it’s Gael’s painting, wiping away Jacob just like Dennis did all night in Davia’s bed.

But first he sleeps, _really_ sleeps, with her. His fiery 5-foot-3 guardian angel. And, for the first time in a long time, he lets himself dream. 

-end-


End file.
